Skip to main content

Background Process Management

Managing background processes with projax.

Running in Background​

Basic Background Execution​

prx 1 dev -M

Multiple flags supported:

  • -M (shortest)
  • --background
  • -b
  • --daemon

With Auto-Resolution​

prx 1 dev -M --force

Runs in background and auto-resolves port conflicts.

Viewing Running Processes​

List All Processes​

prx ps

Output shows:

  • Process ID (PID)
  • Project name
  • Script name
  • Running time
  • Command executed
  • Log file location
  • URLs (if detected)

Example Output​

Running processes (3):

  PID 12345: projax (dev) - 5m 30s
    Command: npm run dev
    Logs: /Users/username/.projax/logs/process-1234567890-dev.log
    URLs: http://localhost:3000

  PID 12346: Frontend App (start) - 2m 15s
    Command: npm start
    Logs: /Users/username/.projax/logs/process-1234567891-start.log
    URLs: http://localhost:38124

Stopping Processes​

Stop by PID​

prx stop 12345

Stop All Processes​

# Get PIDs and stop each
prx ps | grep -o 'PID [0-9]*' | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -I {} prx stop {}

Viewing Logs​

Log File Location​

Logs are stored in ~/.projax/logs/:

process-<timestamp>-<script>.log

View Recent Log​

tail -f ~/.projax/logs/process-*.log

View Specific Log​

# From prx ps output
tail -f /Users/username/.projax/logs/process-1234567890-dev.log

Workflow Examples​

Start Multiple Projects​

# Start all in background
prx 1 dev -M
prx 2 dev -M
prx 3 start -M

# Check status
prx ps

Monitor Logs​

# Start project
prx 1 dev -M

# Get log path from prx ps
prx ps

# View logs
tail -f ~/.projax/logs/process-*.log

Stop All at Once​

# Get all PIDs
prx ps

# Stop each
prx stop <pid1>
prx stop <pid2>
prx stop <pid3>

Process Management​

Check if Process is Running​

prx ps | grep "My Project"

Find Process by Port​

prx ps | grep "3000"

Get Process Details​

# Full details from prx ps
prx ps

# Or check process directly
ps aux | grep <pid>

Log Management​

View All Logs​

ls -la ~/.projax/logs/

Clean Old Logs​

# Remove logs older than 7 days
find ~/.projax/logs/ -name "*.log" -mtime +7 -delete

Archive Logs​

# Archive logs
tar -czf logs-archive.tar.gz ~/.projax/logs/

Best Practices​

  1. Use background for long-running tasks: Dev servers, API servers
  2. Monitor with prx ps: Check what's running
  3. View logs when needed: Debug issues
  4. Clean up old processes: Stop when done
  5. Use --force with background: Auto-resolve conflicts

Troubleshooting​

Process Not Starting​

  1. Check port availability
  2. Check log files for errors
  3. Try running in foreground first

Process Not Stopping​

  1. Check if process exists: ps aux | grep <pid>
  2. Force kill if needed: kill -9 <pid>
  3. Check process file: ~/.projax/processes.json

Logs Not Appearing​

  1. Check log directory exists
  2. Check file permissions
  3. Verify process is actually running